Open Source

Cisco: We Like Developers, Honest

By Adrian Bridgwater, August 06, 2014

Susie Wee blogs to put Cisco DevNet in our hearts and minds

Cisco doesn't feature too heavily on the Dr. Dobb's newswire circulation schedule, so this scant mention should serve in some small part to redress that lamentable imbalance. Emanating from the Cisco DevNet network is VP & CTO of networked experience is Susie Wee.

Wee says that Cisco has created DevNet, its new developer program, to enable an open community of software developers — including ISVs, customers, and systems integrators/channel partners — to help them build Cisco-enabled applications to sell and use on top of Cisco APIs to enhance or manage Cisco networks.

Gambling to win us round with a great truism, Wee says that traditionally, developers have struggled to marry software applications with networking hardware; the network simply wasn't software-friendly and programmable.

"Today the development environment is rich and ready to take advantage of the open and intelligent network. As a result, developers now have a huge opportunity to monetize and differentiate their offerings using the network," she says.

The company insists that DevNet is a new and growing developer community that offers the tools and resources for them to integrate their software with Cisco infrastructure. Developers can tap the DevNet ecosystem and use the tools and community to create network-aware applications.

"DevNet helps developers drive productivity and innovation by lowering barriers of entry and by providing a variety of resources, including engineering platform APIs, SDKs, ready-to-use code samples, a developer sandbox, developer support, and community management," said Wee.

Cisco partners, Citrix, Davra Networks, and Glue Networks are all using DevNet to drive application and network automation for mutual customers.

Cisco is using DevNet as the delivery vehicle for its Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) approach to SDN. Currently, the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module (APIC EM) for WAN and access edge is in beta. When available, customers and developers can download APIC EM via DevNet at no charge.

Currently the DevNet portal features more than 100 fully documented APIs, with more being added each week. Cisco is building API management capabilities through a partnership with Mulesoft to enable developers to more easily access REST-based APIs.

For development tools: Cisco is investing in SDKs, API tutorials, and a Developer Sandbox so developers can integrate with Cisco technology. The DevNet Sandbox program promises to eliminate the cost and time of acquiring lab equipment and the technical staff to maintain it. Additionally, it allows developers to test application use cases before deployment.

To fuel and support the DevNet community, Cisco is building a team of developer evangelists, community managers, and developer support engineers.

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